Reagan Expects to Meet Gorbachev; Site Not Set

President Reagan expects to meet with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev before the end of the year, but the two superpowers have been unable so far to agree on a location for the summit, Administration officials said Saturday.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that the United States and the Soviet Union reached an “agreement in principle” some time ago to hold a meeting this year and that since then, there have been “some exchanges” between them in an effort to set a time and place.

A knowledgeable White House official, who declined to be further identified, added that during the discussions, Reagan ruled out going to Moscow and the Soviets rejected Washington as a conference site. Referring to Reagan’s longstanding hostility toward the Kremlin, he added, “It is highly unlikely that the President (would) go to the Soviet Union.”

Once the two capitals were excluded, he said, the idea was “tinkered” with of meeting in New York in September when the new session of the U.N. General Assembly convenes. Soviet officials ruled out that option.

“So, the place is very much up in the air,” the White House official added.

Speakes and other aides also denied reports from Moscow that the two sides have tentatively agreed on Geneva as a compromise location for the summit.

Another Administration official described the discussions between the United States and the Soviet Union as typical of talks that would precede agreement on any summit conference. He said the talks have proceeded calmly, even as the diplomatic atmosphere and relations between Washington and the Kremlin have sometimes improved, sometimes soured.

Despite what this official described as “backpedaling” on plans for an early meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev, he added, “A summit is still a live prospect.”

Both Reagan and Gorbachev, who took over the Soviet leadership earlier this year, have said in public that they would welcome a face-to-face meeting--but they have been cautious about the specifics. Reagan’s initial invitation to Gorbachev for talks in Washington was contained in a letter delivered by Vice President George Bush during the funeral of Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko in March.

Earlier this year, Reagan noted it was the United States’ turn to host a summit. The last U.S.-Soviet summit was held in Vienna in 1979 between Leonid I. Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter. Brezhnev made the last visit by a Soviet leader to the United States, in 1973.

Less than two weeks ago, Reagan said he was optimistic about the prospects for a meeting, but aides warned him not to appear overly eager because the details had not been pinned down.

American industrialist Armand Hammer met with Gorbachev on June 17 and said the Soviet leader “did not seem to feel (a summit) has any urgency.”

The United States and the Soviet Union are already negotiating over nuclear arms and space weapons in Geneva, but those talks have shown no substantive progress to date.

Last week, Gorbachev charged that the United States is being unreasonable and creating delay at the talks and warned that he might “reassess the entire situation”--diplomatic phrasing for a possible walkout--if the Americans continue a military buildup while “marking time” at Geneva.

The State Department responded with its strongest public protest since the Geneva arms control talks resumed, saying, “It is the Soviet Union, and not the United States, that is ‘marking time’ in the negotiations.”